Notes from my Knapsack 12-5-19

Notes from my Knapsack 12-5-19

Jeff Gill

 

I saw the decade end

____

 

In just a few weeks, the decade will end.

 

It was the . . . wow. We still haven't quite figured out what to call this stretch. Thankfully, not the World War I era, which was the work-around a hundred years ago.

 

The first decade we tried to call "the Oughts" which frankly did not catch on, but nothing better rose up to replace it. The Zeros? Nah, doesn't work for me, either.

 

But the Teens? That's a demographic, or a cover band. We just don't have our decade nomenclature really worked out, which is embarrassing.

 

Another embarrassing thing is the social media query that's gone around asking what you've done with the last decade. It makes sense, like using New Year's week as a time to review the year past, to take this month and look back over the . . . yeah. This last ten year period from 2010 through 2019, the Teen-ish decade.

 

What's hard to read for some of us is how much some have accomplished. Completed advanced degrees, given birth to children, built additions onto their homes, received a Rhodes Scholarship, that sort of thing. Like a decadal Christmas letter (note to self: work on Christmas letter to family and friends).

 

Some of us are happy to report we have survived the past era, more or less. We're still here, okay? But I'm more than willing to admit that there are things I dreamt of, or hoped for, or just planned to do in the last nine or ten years that didn't happen. Reading online that many did all of that and more can be a bit of a downer.

 

On the other hand, most of us low achievers haven't posted anything, so it's not like on social media platforms we're looking at a true random sample. If you have something to brag about, you're motivated to post your accomplishments; if you went to prison for life six years ago, I doubt you're posting a thing.

 

Leaving the rest of us somewhere between achievement and incarceration to ask: how was the past decade, anyhow? Obama's two terms and the start of Trump's first as President; we've moved into the future projected by "Blade Runner" which opened proclaiming "November 2019" as the unimaginable yet to come. Which is now here.

 

Thirty years ago, my wife and I were childless, and came over to discover Granville's candlelight walking tour back when Oese Robinson's lifestyle was still a museum, heard oboes in St. Luke's, and she hadn't yet directed the handbell choir at First Presbyterian. In a few weeks, I'd be pulled into the excavation and preservation of the Burning Tree Mastodon, soon thirty years re-discovered here in Licking County on Dec. 12.

 

Ten years ago, our son was a Cub Scout when girls were not invited to join; he was a student at the still new-ish intermediate school out in the countryside, and wondering what the middle and high school would be like. Now he's approaching college graduation. That's his achievement, but it might have to do for us as parents.

 

What has your decade been like? It's about to end, and we will soon be into the Twenties. What would you call the one past, and how do you feel about it? I hope to have one more column in this decade to talk about that.

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; tell him what you call 2010-2010 at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.

Faith Works 11-23-19

Faith Works 11-23-19

Jeff Gill

 

Thankfulness as a reflex

___

 

Thankfulness seems like something that, like decency, should be easier. But we're all surrounded by evidence that this is simply not the case.

 

This time of year we regularly exhort others and ourselves to "be more thankful." And there's no real argument against it: being thankful is good for our attitude and our blood pressure, thankfulness helps us be more aware of little and large things alike that we can gloss over in our attention to what we don't have, and giving thanks just feels right. It's probably why this non-religious festival is perhaps our nation's most intentionally observed event, with special dinners in the home and gatherings that have much less external or theological reinforcement, like Christmas and Easter.

 

Yet we struggle with it. There's a phrase that's been around a while on social media, one of those hashtag labels – #FirstWorldProblems. If you wrestle with your lack of a pool or a boat, that's probably a #FirstWorldProblem. In fact, if you get home and find your dishwasher isn't working, that's certainly an event qualifying as a #FirstWorldProblem. Or even a light bulb burning out.

 

The flip side of the snark is asking yourself what it would take to be thankful simply that the lights go on at all, which in many places around the world is not an everyday, 24 hours a day certainty. We fuss over our generators and whether we remembered to run the monthly or quarterly or annual test (when did we last test the darn thing?) of it automatically kicking on when the power goes out. Last summer, I got to hear people being thankful to me from Puerto Rico, because our larger church body had done an incredibly effective job of finding and transporting generators to the island after that terrible hurricane a couple years ago. They still remembered how much it meant to them for those shiny new red and black gas powered generators to show up. They were still, many months later, intensely and tearfully thankful.

 

I found myself thinking "I really need to get a generator at home." #FirstWorldProblem, indeed.

 

Thankfulness is an art, and not everyone practices it. Some people can be cranky in the midst of plenty, and we all know them, and try not to look at them in the mirror in the morning. Being thankful is an exercise, a choice we have to make, and I could even call it a habit worth cultivating. Thanksgiving is an annual event, and I'm sure there are folks who visit a gym once a year; I know some people visit church annually. But exercise and prayerfulness and thankfulness need some regular, even daily attention. It's not about worship services or turkey or owning the right stationary bicycle, but a habit of the heart, a reflex we've tended to around the gift and blessing of being thankful.

 

Grace at meals, even ones without a turkey on the table, can be a quiet, common reinforcement of being thankful. Pausing to notice blessings (counting them, even) is so close to prayer it might even count. Doing a regular review of what's working in your life, before you start in on your list of what's wrong, might just be a better way to work for self-improvement.

 

One of my favorite stand-alone verses in the Bible is Colossians 3:15, and the closing phrase, or sentence (Biblical Greek didn't come with punctuation, so it's impossible to say how independent this statement was meant to be). "And be thankful."

 

In the original Greek, it's even more beautiful: "Kai eucharistoi ginesthe." Or, "and thankful, be." You don't have to be terribly religious to notice the word here generally translated "thankful" is also the root word for "eucharist," the central celebration of Christian communion. "Eu-" is the prefix for all, or good, or true; "charis" is gift or grace or, yes, thanks.

 

So literally, "And for all good gifts, be; be mindful, be aware, be sensible of them." In the economy of the Koine Greek, just "be" or "ginesthe" carries a great deal of implied weight, but the meaning is quite clear. "And, thankful be."

 

This Thanksgiving, may the day be the start of a new habit that carries us into 2020, to thankful, be.

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; he's got much to be thankful for, and often is. Tell him what you're thankful for at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter. 

Joyce

Last halftime show

Advent readings and themes, updated & revised

[document with same contents attached; it's formatted a little more clearly there. pax, jbg]

Advent 2019 ~ "Joy to the World!"

 

Joy to the world! The Lord is come.
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room;
And heav'n and nature sing,
And heav'n and nature sing.
And heav'n and heav'n and nature sing.

 

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ.
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy

 

No more let sin and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found.

 

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness.
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders of His love.

 

 

Dec. 1 ~ Hope

Matthew 24:36-44 [no one knows the day or the hour, be ready]

 

Dec. 8 ~ Peace

            Matthew 3:1-12 [John the Baptist, bear fruit worthy of repentance]

 

Dec. 15 ~ Joy

            Matthew 11:2-11 [John in prison to Jesus; are you the one who is to come]

 

Dec. 22 ~ Love

            Matthew 1:18-25 [when Joseph awoke from sleep]

 

Dec. 24 ~ Matthew 2:13-23 [flight into Egypt]

 

Advent wreath readings:

 

Dec. 1 ~ Hope

Matthew 24:36-44 [no one knows the day or the hour, be ready]

 

In the words of the great hymn written 300 years ago this Advent:

Joy to the world! The Lord is come.
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room;
And heav'n and nature sing,
And heav'n and nature sing.
And heav'n and heav'n and nature sing.

 

We light this first candle of our wreath to prepare the way, to light a path, to signal to our hearts and human hearts all around that Christ will come, and we only have to open the door. Let the light of Christ so shine.

 

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for sending us your Son. May we each prepare Him room, and sing with all heaven and creation of how your perfect plan will bring us together, with each other, and in you forever. Amen!

 

 

 

Dec. 8 ~ Peace

            Matthew 3:1-12 [John the Baptist, bear fruit worthy of repentance]

 

In the words of the great hymn written 300 years ago this Advent:

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ.
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy

 

Christ will reign forever and ever. His rule began in a humble manger in Bethlehem, and lifted up even on a cross, his glory could not be hidden. Jesus shall reign wherever the Word is shared, and the Gospel proclaimed, where the joy of the Lord echoes and sounds off of the rocks and hills around those who will but listen. We light the candle of hope, and a candle for peace to the Prince of Peace.

 

Prayer: God of all calm and quiet, Lord of conflict and over confusion, you O Holy One who has promised to bring us peace, let us all invite the Prince of Peace into our lives, to rule over us, and to show us your way. Amen!

 

 

 

Dec. 15 ~ Joy

            Matthew 11:2-11 [John in prison to Jesus; are you the one who is to come]

 

In the words of the great hymn written 300 years ago this Advent:

No more let sin and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found.

 

Sin has been part of creation since almost the very beginning, but God has allowed us to stray so that we might return with willing hearts, and a greater understanding of the whole of creation. We find joy in accepting your will for our lives, renouncing sin that can choke out life itself, and turning away from disobedience towards the hope and peace and joy that is your Word, alive in the world, as are these three candles.

 

Prayer: Loving and living Lord God, help us to overcome sin, cast out darkness with light, and shine as you have put your light in us, so others might see your way, and know your path. Grant us joyful hearts in this Christmas season, in Jesus' name, Amen!

 

 

 

Dec. 22 ~ Love

            Matthew 1:18-25 [when Joseph awoke from sleep]

 

In the words of the great hymn written 300 years ago this Advent:

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness.
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders of His love.

 

When Jesus truly rules the world, it will be love that is the law. Not imposed from without, but blossoming forth within. As Jeremiah spoke of your covenant written on our hearts, as Mary sang your hymn of freedom and redemption after learning of her place in your plan, may we guide and guard one another, especially those who need our protection, with love always, as you first loved us. May your love shine like the light of all four candles around this wreath.

 

Prayer: Love is your song, O Lord; as Hannah sang with a thankful heart at the tabernacle, as David danced before the ark, as your people rejoice with the saints and the angels in heaven, we sing your song of love with wonder, amazed at what you have chosen to do with all that you have made, and how you are already at work within us, even now. And all God's people said: Amen!

 

 

Dec. 24 ~ Matthew 2:13-23 [flight into Egypt]

 

In the words of the great hymn written 300 years ago this Advent:

Joy to the world! The Lord is come.

This is what we are called to together to celebrate: the Lord, our God, has come among us, to live with us, and to take us home at the end of our days. The gap between Heaven and Earth, from death into life, is bridged not by our work, but by God's loving intention.

Let earth receive her King;

We are here to make preparation for the fullness of time, for the end of days, for the completion of this part of God's eternal plan – which by a gift of grace includes us.

Let every heart prepare Him room;

Because we have a place, not because we have earned it or deserve it, but because God has sent word on ahead, to make a room ready with us, even as Jesus has gone on ahead to make a place for us forever.

And heav'n and nature will indeed sing, when all is made ready, and the dear Christ enters in.

 

[Lighting of the Christ Candle]

Faith Works 11-16-19

Faith Works 11-16-19

Jeff Gill

 

After the harvest is over

___

 

After the harvest, we prepare to give thanks. Thanksgiving doesn't come until a bit later this year, Nov. 28, but it is upon us as surely as is pumpkin spice. For those of us in the cities and towns, our rural touchstone, our country sensibility, comes down to a pumpkin spice candle if not the dreaded latte, but that's just a faint whiff of the reality all around us.

 

After the harvest is the season we're moving into; the leaves have fallen, and snow isn't general all over Ohio, but we can tell we're in a time of transition even if we've never sat on a tractor.

 

After the harvest, and the work done by farmers and farmer families and farmer friends, we drive past open, cleared, stubbled fields. And it looks like their work is done.

 

After the harvest, the work is not over, but it does change.

 

After the harvest, the crops have to be stored or sold or sorted or sifted (or a little of all four). After the harvest, the fields have a final tending before the frost goes deep; even in the age of no-till, there's work to do to put the soil and stubble in condition for the long winter in readiness for next spring. After the harvest, the equipment must be cleaned and sharpened and stowed. The harvest is over, but the work continues.

 

In the harvest of faith, we celebrate baptism and new beginnings, but the work of discipleship continues. Faith can't just be about the washing of sin and waiting for heaven. If that's all it is, we have to puzzle at what God's plan is really all about, or "why the Lord tarries so" as my grandmother used to say.

 

From the harvest of faith that is confession and redemption, we have the work of discipleship, the making and shaping of disciples, to occupy our long winter until the spring of ultimate advent. Not the Advent we start Dec. 1, perhaps, but the time of arrival of the end which is not a new winter, but a glorious spring. That promised coming of a redeemer is not just an end, but a new beginning. Even so, having been harvested in faith into the storehouse of the Lord, are we just waiting for that coming again, that second Advent? No.

 

After the harvest, in the storehouse, whether you imagine that to be a high ceilinged church or a quiet corner of your morning at home before going out to work, in the place where you gather together your intentions and keep them safely hid in Christ with God, it takes work to "just keep" the fruit of the harvest in store and in shape.

 

After the harvest, we all have tools to sharpen and storehouses to clean out in the recesses of our hearts, around the workshop of our thoughts. Winter might keep us closer to home, but there is still work to be done, after the harvest.

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; tell him what you do after the harvest at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.